Federico García Moliner was born in Burriana (Castellón) in 1930. He studied Physics at the University of Madrid, where he took his degree in 1954. He then moved to Cambridge University to take his Doctorate in Science in 1958, also gaining a PhD from Madrid in 1960.
From 1961 to 1964, García Moliner worked at the University of Illinois and since then has been at the Higher Council for Scientific Research, with a five-year interval (1974 to 1979) during which he lectured at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
Throughout his career, García Moliner has published over one hundred research papers in highly prestigious international journals. His book (together with F. Flores), Introduction to the Theory of Solid Surfaces, published by the Cambridge University Press in 1979 is used as a reference work all over the world and is regarded as a classic on the subject.
García Moliner has also lectured at over fifty research centres and universities outside Spain.
Solid state physics study the properties of solid matter on the basis of its atoms and electrons. This branch of science is essential for the development of a theory of solid materials, but also has other, enormously important applications. For example, the extraordinary development of electronics today, with its huge significance in terms of our technological world economy, is based upon this field of research.
Thus, many of the vital parts of devices such a television set, a calculator or the exposure meter in a photographic camera depend on the behaviour of electrons in solid materials. In fact the technique which makes the highly complex network of modern telecommunications possible is based on solid state studies, an area where García Moliner is regarded as a world authority.